U.S. Rep. Sander Levin takes on inspector general in IRS scandal

Democrats on the Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee hold a news conference just before a hearing with Danny Werfel, the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, on the extra scrutiny the IRS gave Tea Party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 27, 2013. From right to left are Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-NY, Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

U.S. Rep. Sander Levin is leading a revolt against a central figure in the IRS scandal, the inspector general, who falsely suggested that the agency's targeting of political groups was limited to conservative organizations such as the tea party.

As the ranking Democratic member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Levin wrote a hard-hitting letter to Inspector General Russell George on Wednesday, calling his audit of IRS activities "fatally flawed," and the lawmaker followed up with a second letter on Thursday that demanded George return to Capitol Hill to testify a second time before the committee.

In a letter to the Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, a Midland Republican, Levin and the other Democrats on the panel wrote:

"We request that you immediately ask Mr. George to return to the committee and answer questions under oath regarding all of these matters....This requires our prompt attention so that we may get back on the course which we hope is our mutual goal: fixing the problems at the Internal Revenue Service and restoring the trust of the American people."

Advertisement

At the same time, GOP lawmakers are denying that they arranged for a slanted audit and George, in a rebuttal letter sent to Levin, said that nonprofit liberal groups seeking tax-exempt status had indeed also faced IRS scrutiny but the vast majority of the harassment was directed at tea party and "patriot" groups.

George said that the 298 cases flagged by the IRS center in Cincinnati for potential abuse of the tax-exempt rules included just six groups that were clearly identified with the words progressive or "occupy."

While 100 percent of the tea party groups were subject to intense scrutiny, George wrote, just 30 percent of the liberal groups felt the same pressure.

As the picture surrounding the 6-week-old scandal has become more muddled, it has generated a finger-pointing battle on Capitol Hill. Levin and other Democrats said earlier this week that, based on news report, GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of California, chair of the House Oversight Committee, had directed the Treasury Department's internal auditors to focus only on IRS abuses inflicted on the tea party.

George said in his letter to Levin that many of those news reports were inaccurate. In turn, GOP lawmakers on Thursday denied that the 50-page audit was slanted from day one. Issa backed away from previous claims that the IRS, at the White House's direction, was targeting President Obama's political enemies.

Nonetheless, Levin expressed anger that it took weeks for "independent and objective" information to be revealed that liberal and conservative groups were both victimized by a dysfunctional IRS. The congressman said the tenor of the investigation would have been significantly different if a fuller picture quickly emerged, and he questions whether George was forthcoming in previous congressional testimony. "Failing to make this clear in these documents and at congressional hearings, even when asked directly, has been misleading," said Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County. "It has contributed to the distortion of this entire investigation, including use of innuendo and totally unsubstantiated assertions of White House involvement."

The scandal has already resulted in the departure of several IRS officials and two others have invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination.

At Thursday's Ways and Means Committee hearing, acting IRS administrator Daniel Werfel reiterated that he is eliminating the "Be on the Lookout," or BOLO, lists that were used to target groups that may have been improperly seeking tax-exempt status. He also pledged to enact reforms that establish a professional, politically neutral approach toward enforcing IRS rules that say groups engaged solely in politics cannot receive a 501(c)4 nonprofit status.